Grades 1-8
CRS Rice Bowl offers faith-filled Lenten resources for students in grades 1-8, including lesson plans, religious education activities, prayer resources and family engagement tools that help children pray, learn and put their faith into action during Lent.
Whether you're a teacher, parish faith formation leader, catechist or homeschool educator, these ready-to-use resources can help you create meaningful Lenten experiences for children and families.
Sign up to receive CRS Rice Bowl emails for religious educators!
Online Community Giving
Interested in starting a CRS Rice Bowl fundraising page to collect your community’s Lenten alms? Register your community giving page today in less than 10 minutes. Then, invite your parish, school or community to turn in their rice bowls through your personalized link.
Communication Tools
Family participation helps extend the CRS Rice Bowl experience beyond the classroom. Use these communication resources to introduce CRS Rice Bowl, share updates throughout Lent and encourage students and families to live out their faith together through prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
Letter to Families
Introduce CRS Rice Bowl and invite families to participate.
Newsletter Announcements
Share brief updates, stories and reminders throughout Lent.
End-of-Lent Letter
Celebrate your community’s participation and provide information about returning Rice Bowls or giving online.
Lesson Plans and Activities
Help students connect their faith with the world around them through engaging lessons, reflection activities and stories from CRS communities. Each grade-band resource includes age-appropriate opportunities to explore Catholic social teaching, global solidarity and ways our faith calls us to serve others.
Resources for Grades 1-3
Help young learners discover ways to care for their neighbors and share God's love through these simple activities and reflections.
Resources for Grades 4-6
Help students understand global challenges and the impact of compassion and action with these interactive lessons.
Resources for Grades 7-8
Encourage critical thinking and faith-based reflection through activities that help students connect Catholic social teaching with real-world issues.
Prayer Resources
Prayer is at the heart of the CRS Rice Bowl experience. These resources help students, educators and families reflect on God's call to love our neighbors and deepen their connection to our global family throughout Lent.
Prayer Service to Begin and End Lent
Begin and end your CRS Rice Bowl journey with the prayer services designed for use during Mass or in another prayerful setting.
Weekly Prayers of the Faithful
Incorporate global solidarity into school Masses, classroom prayer and parish gatherings.
Stations of the Cross
Reflect on Christ's journey while remembering communities around the world facing challenges and hardship.
Eucharistic Adoration
Plan a Holy Hour of Adoration for your school with prayers and readings from Scripture.
Stories of Hope
See The World with New Eyes
This week, begin your Lenten journey with CRS Rice Bowl and discover how prayer, fasting and almsgiving help us see Christ in our global family.
A Story of Hope from Ethiopia
Clean water close to home is helping Fatuma’s family in Ethiopia grow food and dream of a brighter future.
A Story of Hope from Honduras
In Honduras, a mother and father are turning hard work, new skills—and strawberry farming—into a brighter future their daughter.
A Story of Hope from Lebanon
Through faith, family and the olive harvest, Zeina’s story shows how one community in Lebanon is holding on to hope amid hardship.
The Journey of a Rice Bowl Gift
Even the smallest Rice Bowl gift can become a powerful sign of God’s love, helping families around the world build brighter futures.
01/05
Give Your Lenten Alms
When you give to CRS Rice Bowl, you help families around the world overcome hunger and poverty. Thank you for spreading hope and changing lives this Lent.